27 Dec
2018

DJI Mavic 2 PRO my first steps and learning curve.

I finally got a drone just before Christmas and just for extra luck and safety I got my first training by Simon an aircraft pilot who actually flies a Boeing 737 for a living.

My Mavic 2 PRO with guide stickers still attached was a dream to fly but not without its problems. One thing I was not prepared for was a dog barking at the drone that was running out of battery power and needed to be brought down ASAP. After I told the dog owner our problem she grabbed the dog and all was fine but a moment I was glad to have alerting me for dogs in future flight.

My friend and seasoned drone pilot Chris told me the drone gives off ultrasonics that annoys animals. As a further example of how things can go wrong we put the drone down on the grass and some of it got tangled in the rotors so we had to dismantle one set of blades to untangle it but that’s all part of the learning curve.

Me and Simon during my first solo flight

I have admired my good friend Philip Blooms drone footage for many a year and it gave me the inspiration to have one myself. This is not my first drone as I did buy a DJI Phantom 4 a couple of years ago but I was far from happy with it and sent it back. The Mavic 2 is far superior in all ways especially the smoothness of its flying and it also gives you a lot of confidence with so many health and safety features built in.

We were photographing a place called Cathkin Park which is a stones throw from Hampden Park. Before the Mavic was aloud to fly we were told via the DJI Go 4 APP that we were near a restricted flying area and had to send my mobile phone number and co ordinates to register ourselves before we were allowed to fly, this told me it was not a DJI drone that was involved at Gatwick last week.

This was the shot we came for a great overhead shot of Cathkin Park the second home of Scottish football. I would like to thank my good friend Simon for teaching me the basics of flying and always to keep your eyes on the drone whilst flying. As a seasoned aircraft pilot he was very impressed with the DJI Mavic 2 PRO and how steady it was. I also wish to thank Chris from Arran who gave me a lot of hints and tips.